


Moments (complete)

by Alphalover



Category: Man of Steel (2013)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 16:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alphalover/pseuds/Alphalover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moments in early Lois Lane/Kal-El interactions.</p><p>Please note that I know it's Kal-El and not Kallel. But Lois doesn't. I write what she hears. So Kallel. Jorel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Note: Man of Steel activated another muse. Darn. Anyway. I know it's Kal-El, but Lois doesn't. I write it as I think she imagines it's spelled.

 

The first time they _really_ meet, she's terrified of him.

She's down and she bleeds – it hurts so much – whatever that thing did to her, and she watches with growing horror as this man crushes the machine effortlessly. Inhuman strength. Inhuman place. Inhuman. Alien. So far removed from the incongruous man who helped her dismount and carried her luggage. The fact that such inhuman power tried to pass itself off as a harmless nameless laborer threatens her greatly.

The alien shifts his attention to her, and she thinks this is it. Her curiosity has cost her everything this time. She suspected her luck would one day run out. She just never imagined she'd be kidnapped or killed by an alien. Her pain-fogged brain can't make sense of it as she warily watches him hover over her. He looms. He hunkers down and hunches over her, talking her language and soothing her, but he's too close. She hates herself, but her eyes are broadcasting terror. She can't play it cool. The pain has made her vulnerable. He tells her that things are going to be all right, but how can that be? She's a trespasser on his property and she has obviously seen too much. Besides. She's dying. This much is obvious.

His hands are on her, and she continues to retreat, frightened and suffering overwhelming pain. Then he looks at her... just looks at her – a look that seems to challenge her to let go of her fear of him. She can almost read his thoughts, but she doesn't think he's doing that on purpose. _Trust me. Please. I won't hurt you. How can you believe otherwise?_

She nods, hesitantly. After all, what else can she do? Maybe she can trust the kindness in those eyes. His hands immediately move to unbutton her coat, but although the scene screams 'rape', she knows that isn't his intent. He is obviously gaining access to her wound.

He tells her she's bleeding internally and that he has to cauterize the wound to save her. She wonders how he'll do it, and vocalizes that thought, imagining Doctor McCoy showing up out of 'sickbay' with some fancy space-gadget that will heal her without pain, but he tells her he can do what others can't. This is something she'd already figured out on her own.

He gives her precious little warning. _Hold my hand. This is going to hurt._

He pins her down and the rape imagery returns with blinding force – for he is not only pinning her down and preventing her from bucking up and away from him – he is burning her – and it hurts more than anything ever has. She fights him, but his hold is unbreakable. She does the next best thing and screams until mercifully she loses consciousness – the last thing she sees is his unearthly glowing eyes.

 

It's odd to be facing him here, and now – at a graveyard in Smallville, Kansas. She feels a tremor of remembered fear – a visceral terror brought about by remembering the pain he inflicted in order to save her, but she squelches it. This time he's the one who's afraid. His entire body language is awkward. The cap he wears tries to hide his glorious presence but fails – instead it just draws more attention to his tall and broad shouldered self. She smiles at his terrible attempt at seeming incongruous.

She wonders why he hides and he begins to tell her a story that he's likely never told anyone other than his mother and … she's torn for him. Standing by the gravesite of one who died in order that his secret be kept makes her quest for that Pulitzer prize seem churlish and petty. In a flash she doesn't see him as her quarry – his story has bound him to her as a friend. He's shared something painful. Something that burns him as badly as he'd burned her. He burned her to save her. Her poking around has opened up painful wounds for him – she only hopes she can help save him in the end.

She knows she won't print the story.

 

He comes for her.

Terror transformed the US government agents into thugs. They kidnapped her – and while they treated her well, she was oh so obviously a hostage. Bait for this alien. Kallel. And he comes... shockingly and yet not shockingly, he hovers above the men looking inhuman in his alien garb. Of course the fact that he's flying without assistance is likely what emphasizes the inhuman part. She is deeply affected when he demands her release. The others regard her speculatively.

The cuffs are incongruous. She knows he can break them. She saw him crush a steel robot. But he wears them to put the others at ease, and while that could be condescending, or even worse, a cat toying with prey, she understands that his desire to live and let live is truly a part of his innate character. She smiles as he calls them on their fear. He understands their suspicions and doesn't seem to condemn them for it. 

He thanks for her what she did for him. What she did? She basically held back on exposing him at the eleventh hour after already doing so much damage with her internet leak. If she hadn't done all this, perhaps the aliens would never have been able to capture him. Certainly the government would not have been able to use her as bait, forcing his hand, because that's the sort of person he clearly is. The kind of person who protects others. She's depressed and tells him that her actions didn't matter and he tells her they did to him, and in those words she feels an entire lifetime of pain. Her simple act of caring about what he wanted and accepting him as a man, and not simply an alien, meant so much to him. She wishes she had a whole lifetime to protect him and shield him from any pain, but it appears his time is about to run out. The hurt is too much to bear.

His gaze on hers is kind and somewhat fretful. She holds his hand and feels his fear. She knows that he's terrified to face whoever these people are, and she wants to impart to him her strength, because as crazy at it sounds, she knows that he needs it.

He's afraid for her, and she hears this when he tells her to go. She feels a quick sense of irony that just so recently she was afraid of what he might do to her, back in that cold ice cave – and now, she knows better. He would die to save them, and she feels she could do the same for him.

The alien woman who addresses him is cold. Lois's heart breaks a little. She knows now that this man had no idea where he was from – that his adoptive parents hid him in hopes of keeping him safe, and now, when finally faced with one of his own – a beautiful young woman, no less, this female is cold and Lois can feel Kallel's pain. 

He looks at her as she approaches. She sees he's terrified but hiding it well. How has she learned to read him so well. Can he see her fear too? He can probably hear her heartbeat. She wants to comfort and also ask for comfort, but she knows if they give this woman any reason to believe that Kallel cares for her beyond a simple friendship they will do unspeakable things to her to hurt him. She doesn't know how she knows this, but she does.

On the ship she feels a surge of laughter. She's been kidnapped by aliens. She wonders if now she'll have to work for the National Inquirer. A hand graze hers and she looks down, wondering if he's comforting her, but he isn't. Her heart sinks a bit, but she realizes he's handed something alien to her. Something important and her heart lifts knowing he trusts her to do the right thing. His expression says everything. Whatever you do – keep that hidden.

His fingers brush hers quickly again and there is this look in his eyes that says something more. His gaze apologizes and she quickly shakes her head negating his need. This is not his fault and no matter what they do to her, she needs him to understand that they've _both_ been captured by aliens. Not just her, because now she knows he's more human than anyone she's ever known.

He's choking on his own blood and dying under atmosphere that should embrace him. She wonders how he survived on earth when he came here so young. How did Earth's atmosphere not do this to him then, when he was too fragile to fight? Fierce protectiveness surges - she has to save him.

She's screaming, but nobody cares. They take her away.


	2. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I know it's Kal-El and not Kallel. But Lois doesn't. I write what she hears. So Kallel. Jorel.

She holds the key in her hand and looks at the slot that it should go into. She knows that Kallel had no time to tell her what to do, but the very fact that he handed her this alien artifact means he actually trusts her. So she is determined not to betray that trust by being foolish. She will put the key in the lock regardless of the consequences. After all, the both of them are as good as dead if they can't find a way to change things.

Fear stutters through her – a man is standing there, but he doesn't have the angry arrogance that the others all have – the others, except for Kallel. In fact this man's steady reserve makes her think of Kallel. 

He tells her who he is and it's clear. The same kind eyes, the same gentle respect. Although she knows this isn't really Kallel's father, it's good enough. He's helping save her and he's helping save his son. He speaks to her as if she's an equal –something she's sure Zod and his crew wouldn't do in the presence of an earthling. To them she's a worthless primitive.

Soon she's racing through the ship, listening to his quickly spoken directives because he's linked to the computer, he knows everything and he's keeping her safe. She never sees Kallel and she's scared but Jorel instructs her to get into a pod. He tells her to shift to the side and she does, but a little too late. She's almost hit. Her pod is damaged and she closes it just in time. She is plummeting through space in a fiery tomb. Death by Zod might have been preferable to this.

 

He catches her in a splendid display of awesome power. Smashing through her capsule doesn't even faze her because she's moments away from her own cremation. He holds her close in a crushing grip and she senses his deep tension and fear as he rockets her away from the explosion. 

On her feet, he's holding her shoulders carefully asking about her well being. She is sure that he has other places to be, but he's leaning close and she realizes with absolute shock that she wants him to kiss her. How this is possible given they are different species is beyond her. She wonders if he has the parts of a man. More importantly, she wonders what he will taste like.

But it isn't to be and he rockets away, his fine senses honing to something else. She turns and calls for help with the approaching police. The government is no longer her enemy and she must find a way to put Jorel's plan in action.


	3. Trust me. I won't hurt you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I know it's Kal-El and not Kallel. But Lois doesn't. I write what she hears. So Kallel. Jorel.

As Lois, Hamilton, Hardy and Kallel all discuss their plan, Lois is struck by how bizarre her life has now become. She's sure that for Kallel it's even more bizarre. She exhales and forces herself to focus. She's relieved that Hardy is treating Kallel as if he was his ally – the mistrust and fear are conspicuously absent. Kallel appears to enjoy this kind of teamwork. It's at this moment that Lois realizes how human he is. And maybe this time, working with full disclosure of his alien origins, Kallel finally feels he's a part of the world he's always occupied but not truly inhabited.

She wants to squeeze his hand. She wants to kiss him. His plan is so dangerous she wants to throw up. She asks him about the gravity problem but he tells her he has no choice. She knows that she may very well lose him and that frightens her more than anything else, including her own loss of life.

They have no choice but to stop the machines terraforming the world. They have no choice but to face their likely deaths. Lois may well end up crushed by the singularity she's helping create, but like Kallel, she has no choice. She must do this. No matter what. She wonders about how Kallel feels regarding his plan – if he succeeds, Krypton is gone. He will be the last one standing. Forever more. Lois pushes that thought away. The plan must be executed.

She's free falling again. She probably won't make it, but then she's underestimated Kallel because he flies up to her and catches her before anything bad happens.

They stare into each others eyes for an eternity. Eyes that she's seen burn and melt are gazing at her with such tenderness and appreciation. She isn't sure if he moves in, or she does – but it doesn't matter anyway because he's kissing her and it's absolutely perfect. His hold on her is beyond gentle, but there is passion too and she begins to suspect that he does in fact have all the parts of the man. He must or he wouldn't be doing this with her. She's so messed up by this moment that she forces herself to say something stupid, but he manages to charm her even further by suggesting that a first kiss isn't a harbinger of worse things to come if you're not kissing a human. The way he says it melts her heart. Because she knows he's now openly an alien with her – he no longer fears that she will reject him. The trust he's given her is so fragile and perfect, she will protect it if it's the last thing she does. He is the one to pull her in again, and she knows how hard this is. He's an outcast, he's believed himself to be strange and frightening his whole life and he's taking this incredibly intimate risk. He's opening himself up to so much pain she is shocked by his bravery. He kisses her knowing she could cringe back, pull away, beg him to release her, but he does it because he trusts that she wont do any of these things. He knows she wants him to kiss her as much as he wants to do it. So she moves in and gets lost in the moment. Audience be damned.


	4. Bridge over troubled water

The carnage is terrifying. How could two beings wreak so much havoc and damage? How could hands that had touched her gently rip apart a city? Entire buildings have collapsed. Something rained fire from the heavens. Kallel isn't just a man from outer space, he has the powers of the greek gods. Lois wonders if it was actually ancient Kryptonians who gave rise to these deities in the first place. Zod is so clearly the god of war.

Zod is unhinged and Kallel is merely holding on. The two grapple and fight and smash each other around as if they are playing in a house of cards. She's sure that Kallel cares that he's probably taking lives as he defends himself against Zod but he can't stop the fight. Zod won't relocate and Kallel isn't stupid. He has to keep fighting. Otherwise he dies and Zod will do far worse than is being done now.

There is anguish in Kallel's voice as he begs Zod not to kill the poor huddled family who fled into a corner. It isn't the alien Kallel anymore, it is the man Clark Kent. He's begging Zod not to do it, and in those tones, Lois hears the anguish of someone who knows he's out of options. Clark is crying. Lois is destroyed by the sight. He's begging Zod and Zod refuses to listen. Zod wants Clark to kill him and Lois understands on some level that Zod's final act of vengeance is to destroy the 'better man' that Jorel and Lara sought to have in their son. Lois wants to weep for that infant child, sent to a far away un-accepting world with a madman on his heels.

Clark's pleas grow louder and more intense, but the family is so very close to the terrifying fire that rages from Zod's eyes. The power that these two wield is beyond what Lois can even comprehend, and for a brief moment she wonders at the wisdom of becoming the consort of a god. The mortals never seemed to fare too well when they fell for a god's good looks. She isn't persephone and Clark isn't hades. She knows that it will be okay. She just has to remember that he's not just this _titan_ , he's 'Clark Kent' – lately of Smallville, Kansas.

Kallel's cry of denial reverberates. He is unaware of anything but the body in front of him. Kallel is clearly mourning many things, not the least of which is the last other of his kind. But Kallel also mourns what he once was. An innocent man who had never taken a life. Lois wonders if Kallel feels he's taken an irrevocable step towards becoming like the one he just killed. Lois knows Kallel will think that Jorel and Lara would have been disappointed.

He needs her. This powerful titan. This god. This alien. This man. Clark. She goes to him, calling his name and when he looks up at her, he is utterly lost. This is the small child who never fit in. All the barriers he's worn over the years are gone. And he's openly flayed to her gaze. She puts her arms around him, giving him the love and acceptance that might almost be maternal and he responds as if a child, clutching her, leaning into her, allowing tears to flow free and soak into her jumpsuit. Later he may be embarrassed, but right now she will give him all the comfort he needs. She looks up at the family who nearly died. They are still transfixed – still afraid. Not sure what to make of this alien who has lost control of his emotions. She understand their fear, but no longer shares it. She fights against the resentment. Of course their emotions make sense. She smiles at them and nods. 

“It's going to be all right,” she speaks aloud for all present to hear. The words seem to help, because they straighten and begin to leave, casting glances back towards Lois and Clark, unable to really look away. Lois realizes that this is what it will mean to love him, because that is what she's feeling. Love. And she knows that her life will be like this always. Mayhem. Publicity. But she's Lois Lane, and that's the kind of thing that keeps her going.


End file.
